Behavior changes with new baby in house
We have a border collie husky mix who is 8 years old. We got her when she was 8 weeks old and put her in puppy training. From the day we brought her home she demonstrated some food aggression tendencies which was emphasized during training sessions as treats were used as rewards and their other dogs around. Her resource guarding and food aggression continued despite all the training recommendations of picking up her food when she displayed these habits, minimizing, interruptions, etc.. over the course of the next several years she did bite several people when they were food or treats around such as if someone tried to pick up a bone she was knocking on if someone was trying to feed her scraps from the table, etc., most of these bites were superficial nips for warning signs, but she did clamp down and bite me so hard that she broke my thumb when I went to pet her as I was leaving, not realizing there was still food in her bowl, which was in the same room, but probably about 10 feet away from where we were standing. At this time, it was recommended to us to put her down given her bite history, but she’s my pet and I love her so I chose not to and saw additional training resources.
Given her bite history, it has really limited some of the additional resources out there such as using Rovers for additional walks certain boarding facilities won’t accept her and certain trainers won’t work with her. We started trying for a family about three years ago and had a serious discussion about rehoming our dog, we saw assistance from many rescues, both border collie and husky base, as well as based in our local area and she was denied from all of them because of her bite history and aggression. We now have a six month old and my dog’s behavior has worsened not only do we not trust her around the baby but she also is very aggressive when we have family visiting because of our new child. Lately she has started having accidents in the house despite being walked multiple times a day for 15 to 20 minute increments at a time and her time outside is limited as we live in the south and she doesn’t handle the heat very well.
I truly am at a loss as what to do because I don’t feel that any amount of additional training will make me trust her, especially around our child or other family members. My husband and immediate family all thinks the best move is to put our dog down, given our history however I feel I have failed her and it weighs very heavy on my heart. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.